10 Top London restaurants

With the Rugby World Cup done and dusted, you might need to find other reasons to visit London and try out some of their fantastic restaurants… Here’s our list of favourites:

Brasserie Zedel is housed in an astonishing Art Nouveau ballroom lovingly restored to a glittering pre-war glamour. The cuisine is classic French, of an excellent standard and very well priced, but for us, the thrill of finding such magnificence in the crowded streets of Piccadilly is a pleasure in itself.

Unquestionably the new foodie shrine of London, Story draws from the molecular gastronomy of Heston Blumenthal. Often containing more than 10 individual ingredients, the presentation and explanation of each course are forms of performance art. The menu changes seasonally and daily, according to availability and the caprice of Executive Chef Tom Sellers. Book well ahead.

Anyone who’s had the privilege of dining at Le Gavroche swears that it’s the finest restaurant in the world. This is for really special occasions. The cuisine is French in the grand style, but with occasional amusing contemporary twists as the chef sees fit.

Opened in the 1970s by the immortal Albert and Michel Roux, the legend continues under the rule of Albert’s son Michel Jr, who has 2 Michelin stars in his own right.

As your SAA flight banks left to commence its approach into Heathrow, gaze out at the huge splinter of glass jutting up from the city and you’ll almost be able to wave at the diners – you’re virtually at the same altitude. The Shard is the newest and tallest skyscraper in Europe. There are several restaurants to choose from – all on the mid-30’s floors. For true adrenaline junkies, the Gong bar on the 52nd floor is as high as you’ll ever get on a cocktail.

Rules has nestled in its Covent Garden location for 10 generations and has come to define that highly aristocratic club experience one imagines dining in a London restaurant to be. Rich sauces, carefully hung venison, plush velvet banquettes and and an unparalleled list of burgundies and clarets define this quintessentially English restaurant.

When you enter the restaurant founded by Fergus Henderson, St John’s, you’ll find yourself in a forgotten kingdom of cracklings, chitterlings, brawns and jellied eels. Henderson’s famous for his best-selling “nose to tail’ tome which documents how each and every part of the pig might be prepared and presented as a culinary delight. This is food unlike any you will find anywhere else.

The Clink Project (HM Prison Brixton) aims to lower the rate of recidivism among young convicts by giving them life skills training in the restaurant and hospitality industry, as well as helping them find jobs when they’re released. The restaurant’s actually inside the prison walls in the old governor’s office. The food is outstanding and very reasonably priced.

Interior of The Wolseley.

In the banking capital of the planet, what could be more fitting than dining in a building that was previously home to Barclays? Now restored to its 1920s magnificence and adjacent to the Ritz Hotel, The Wolseley is our favourite breakfast meeting place.

Bateaux London knows that the best way to see London is from the river Thames. Floating soundlessly past the city’s palaces, spires and skyscrapers, a small flotilla time their cruises perfectly to last the length of your meal. Boats depart from Embankment Pier.

Every Londoner has his or her own local “curry house” which they insist can’t be rivalled. Ask anyone where you can eat the best curry in London and you’ll immediately be directed to their local. You’re now a Londoner!